Personal Life Journal — October 2023
- October 1, 2023: We so much enjoyed general conference. President Nelson was unable to attend due to a recent fall and back injury, and Elder Holland was unable to attend due to health issues. Twenty new temples were announced, and I enjoyed updating all my temple sites and information charts.
- October 12 – 15, 2023: We enjoyed a wonderful trailering trip to Sevier County to watch a solar eclipse. We were able to find an RV park that was right on the 100% eclipse line, and the view was stunning through our telescopes. James is the proud owner of the telescope I gave him and he has become expert with it. We had a beautiful, cloudless sky that morning, and we were able to share our telescope view of the eclipse with many others in the RV park. It was great and unforgettable. We also enjoyed being with James, Cheyenne, and the sweet little boy, Hazer. He is an angel, such a well-tempered and bright little boy. His eyes are ‘beyond description’ beautiful. We enjoyed being with Dayna and Dan, Linda and Tim, Greg and Lisa and Benjamin, James and Cheyenne, and Haylie. We ate well and enjoyed each other’s company. We went through Cove Fort on Saturday afternoon. I will say nothing about the RV park nor the park employees that we interacted with as we arrived, only to say that our start at the campground was ‘inauspicious’ and ‘poorly omened’.
- October 15, 2023: We watched our stake conference via Zoom while we were down in the RV park. It was memorable due to the fact that Sister Lesa, the wife of the second counselor in the stake presidency, passed out while she was speaking. A call was made to the 9-1-1 line, and paramedics arrived not long thereafter. President Blackwelder ended the morning session at that point and invited all to go home and pray for Sister Lesa.
- October 18 to 22, 2023: We traveled to St. George to enjoy a ‘fall break’ vacation with the Hagbergs, with James and Cheyenne, and with John and Brittney. Susan had reserved a vacation rental home that was very nice and spacious. We had Mehki with us, but Mark and Rachel elected not to come to this family get-together. I will not go into detail about the challenges we faced, but our experience ended abruptly with a very unpleasant and ugly situation that directly involved Mehki and the other young grandsons. This experience will have a profound impact on our family dynamics for the foreseeable future, but hopefully all will resolve in peace and love. This weekend will also dictate the involvement of Mehki in family trips or reunions.
- October 26, 2023: Following is a wonderful email that Anne sent following an opportunity that she and Haylie had at the new Orem Utah Temple open house: “I’ve got to share the awesome experience that Haylie and I had at the new Orem temple open house last night. We got to go as volunteer ushers for the VIP night and so everyone that was coming through on tours last night were invited guests only and they were local business owners, government officials and general authorities. I didn’t recognize any of them. Haylie’s young women’s leaders sent out a text maybe three weeks ago saying that our ward got around 15 usher spots for the VIP night of the temple open house. I signed up Haylie and then told them if they need any extra “leader” support, I would love to help. On Monday I got asked to come help so I was really excited! Our group got stationed on the entire first floor. There were 15 spots on the first floor that they needed ushers and so we rotated every 20 minutes or so throughout the first floor and then after the last tour went through, we were able to go on a guided tour through the whole temple. We were there for three hours, 6-9. There were some cool things I just have to share that we learned…The very first open house was on Saturday the 21st. They have a book at the recommend desk where they have recorded the number of guest on the tour every hour. Yesterday was the fourth day of guided tours. One of my jobs was to sit at the front recommend desk and I had to count/record every person that came in for that timeframe. I was looking through the book as I was sitting there for 20 to 30 minutes and it said that there were 711 people that came through on the very first hour of the tours on Saturday. One of the temple presidency members was standing by me so I asked him about that because that was an extremely high number… most hours averaged 75-100 people. He told me that first group was all the construction crew that got to come through the very first time. I don’t think there was 711 construction workers but they probably got to bring their families with them. SO NEAT!The entire theme of this temple is cherry blossoms and the colors are greens and pinks and every detail throughout the whole temple is cherry blossoms. Apparently years ago that land where the temple sits now used to be a cherry orchard and BYU students would come and pick cherries and then they would sell them to pay their tuition. I don’t know if that was a church owned property? I’m not quite sure but anyway, that was the reason why they went with the cherry blossom theme to pay homage to what this land used to be.
My favorite thing from last night was that I got to meet the two owners/artists that did all of the stain glass in the temple. They own the company that created all the stained glass for this temple. He and his wife started the business 32 years ago out of his parents two car garage. When he was on his mission, he was driving and the Lord told him “you need to be a stain glass artist and that’s what your work here on earth is!” I asked him if he had any interest in that before then and he said maybe a little but never did he think that would be his lifelong profession and passion. They have two locations, their main studio is in Lehi and then they have another studio out of state. They now have 130 full-time employees and they have done the stain glass art for 150 temples!! Temple stain glass is all their business creates. So incredible! I asked the wife how long have they been working on the stain glass for this specific temple and she said five years from beginning sketches until execution/installation and so it’s just so amazing they’ve known about this temple for five years. He even showed us some of the original sketches! She said that they along with the church authorities designed it all. Beautiful just doesn’t even describe it… it is breathtaking. Those two brought just four people with them and so it was a very small group and he was going around in each room explaining about the specific stain glass that was in that room and what it means/represents. They were just the nicest, sweetest most humble people! They also live in the Orem temple district, so that’s even more special! They even shared that they were installing a big piece on the first floor in an area that was very tight and it fell and completely shattered and got destroyed and they had to remake that piece. So sad! Everything that they designed has to do with Utah lake and the landscape of this area. In the baptistry, you’ll notice that there are three little critters. There’s a dragonfly, a crane and a hummingbird. He said that they had to fight, plead and plead to let there be those animals because the church only wanted landscape, but he just said we can’t have Utah lake landscape without some tiny little critters. The little dragonfly right in the middle piece behind the baptistry, was made from a special glass that was created by NASA that goes on their spaceships. You’ll see how beautiful the dragonflies wings are… it changes colors! It was so awesome to hear them explaining the individual pieces in the rooms. I only got to be with him for a little while but it was so neat. They were just the most gentle, humble people and so beyond talented. The church commissioned local artists for some of the paintings in the temple. There are I think 10 original pieces for that temple that you won’t see anywhere else. Behind the desk where you scan your recommend is a big open area where a huge painting hangs that was done by a local BYU female student! It is the most beautiful picture. The art teacher at BYU who also has an original piece in the temple, was so excited that the students piece got hung right there in that big room where everyone’s going to see it! The teacher said it’s the most beautiful painting he’s ever seen in all of his career. It took the student hundreds and hundreds of hours. A lot of the paintings look like our landscape here, tons of mountains, there’s a painting of Bridalveil Falls. There is even a picture that looks like what I see out in my backyard… the field and then there’s a silo and a little barn. They wanted the art to reflect the local landscape and area :)! I saw Annette and Ron Moore and she came and gave me a big hug, so that was fun. I got to meet the temple president and matron, and they were very sweet and humble people. The tour guides for the past four days have been local stake presidents and the temple presidency members so these people were very knowledgeable. Our current stake president and wife were there last night! Once theses VIP tours are done and it’s open to the general public on Friday, they’ll be ushers but there won’t be someone giving you a guided tour and explaining things. It was quite an honor last night to hear all the things that these remarkable leaders were sharing with their family and honored guest that they had with them. I just had to share all this awesome info! It really was such a testimony builder and the spirit is so strong there and it was so PEACEFUL. We are so blessed to have it here. XO, Anne” What a joy it is to have this dear daughter and her husband firmly grounded in the Gospel!
- October 29, 2023 — A wonderful blessing came into my life today. I was interviewed by the new President of the Orem Utah Temple for a possible assignment as an ordinance worker in this beautiful new temple. The president’s name is President Sorber, and he is a kind, caring brother. He asked me a little about myself and he then extended a call to me to serve as an ordinance worker in the temple! He set me apart right then. In the setting apart blessing, he blessed me with an enhancement of my memory such that I would recall that was needed to serve effectively. He also blessed me that I would be as an ‘angel’ to the patrons, and would reach out to them with love and warmth. He blessed me that the patrons would see me as a ‘light’ that radiated the spirit of the Lord in His holy house. He mentioned that the atmosphere the new presidency is hoping to engender in the temple is one of warmth, acceptance, and brotherhood. I requested to serve on the Friday morning shift, and he assigned me accordingly. I was sad to hear that there won’t be a piano or keyboard in the prayer meeting room, so I won’t have the opportunity to play the piano for our prayer meetings as I did in the Provo Temple. I am grateful for this new opportunity, and feel so blessed that our stake in included in the Orem Utah Temple district! It was also a delight to find out that Alan Patterson, my wonderful anesthesia colleague that I went to Guatemala with many times, is a close friend of President Sorber, with them being in the same ward. Alan is also going to be an ordinance worker in the new temple.
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